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Easton software developer aims to get restaurants on right track

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Since leaving his job as a product marketer in Northern New Jersey several years ago, Bill Spain of Easton has turned into something of a 21st century Mr. Wolf, the iconic Pulp Fiction character portrayed by Harvey Keitel who fixes problems. Spain, who is essentially a one-man shop through SpainB Development, creates customized software solutions for companies who need help.

When a restaurant came to him in need of more affordable and easier-to-use system to manage its reservations, Spain responded with SeatTracker, which he is now marketing to other restaurants in the Lehigh Valley.

"Looking at the market out there, there's a real hole for something that's affordable and easy to use," says Spain. "We're optimistic. We've been rolling it out on a slow release over the last two months."

Previously, Spain has developed a software package for the American Law Enforcement Network that allows police to run criminal database checks from laptops and smart phones in their vehicles and a device for the U.S. Golf Association that scientifically measures how hard green surfaces are and is used at most PGA event sites.

With SeatTracker, Spain has provided a way for restaurants to easily ascertain how many tables are reserved and when, which helps maximize capacity and, in turn, profitability.

"At the end of the day, what restaurants do is rent tables," says Spain. "If they don't know how many tables they have available at a certain point, they're kind of clueless. This software is designed to help restaurants do it more efficiently.

"Once you've got that and you've got a busy night, you're handling customers when they walk in the door and you're not saying 'hold on a minute, let me check' and all of a sudden three more parties walk in the door. Everything goes much smoother and customers are much happier."

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